German GP: Jaguar Saturday qualifying notes

The Hockenheim-Ring remained dry today while Jaguar Racing drivers, Mark Webber (27) and Christian Klien (21) took to the track for free practice this morning and qualifying this afternoon. After thunderstorms and rain covered the track last night the cars had the task of relaying the rubber again this morning.

Mark and Christian jointly managed 45 laps in the two practice sessions and were well prepared going into qualifying. After completing clean laps they secured grid positions of 11th and 12th respectively after the BAR of Jenson Button was moved down ten positions following an engine failure during Friday's testing.

Mark Webber:

"We have been working extremely hard this weekend preparing the cars and despite our time on track being cut short yesterday, the team has done a good job on the R5 set-up. I did 25 laps this morning working on balance and some fine-tuning, so I was geared up going into qualifying. My first session this afternoon was satisfactory and the car was balanced. When I went out for my second session I did not quite get the right gear going into the first corner, so I was chasing my time for the rest of the session."

"My overall lap was good but not perfect so my final position of 11th for the grid is ok, but as always further up would have been even better. We are now focusing on what we need to do tomorrow during the race to fight for a points-finish. It is more and more difficult to score points as we progress through the season so any points achieved are hard fought. We have some first-rate people in the team so we will all be looking at our strategy to ensure we are racing for points from the start."

Christian Klien:

"The weekend has been going well so far and I am enjoying driving the R5 around this circuit. The team and I have spent most of today looking at balance and set-up and I did 20 laps this morning that really helped me get the car reacting the way I wanted. Going into this afternoon's sessions I was very focused and my first qualifying lap was clean and I was generally pleased."

"My second and final session was again ok, although I made one minor error that swung the back of the car out slightly but I recovered and pushed really hard for the remainder of the lap. My 12th position just behind Mark is good for me and I am pleased that I am keeping up with my teammate. I am looking forward to the race here tomorrow as I am sure that it is going to be interesting. There are some overtaking points that I will be looking to make use of so lets see what happens."

Dr Mark Gillan -- Head of Vehicle Performance:

"It has been a productive day for us here at the Hockenheim-Ring and I am satisfied with our final grid positions of 11th and 12th. Both drivers completed a good number of laps this morning working through a programme of car set-up and tyre preparation. After the excessive amount of rain last night the track was quite green but after some rubber was put down its grip improved."

"Going into qualifying they were both giving good feedback on the balance and their first sessions were clean laps. With their second qualifying sessions they both improved their lap times and ended up in 11th and 12th ahead of tomorrow's race. We have a good strategy in place and we will be looking to do our utmost to aim for the chequered flag and some points."

Mark Webber
Position: 11th
Best time: 1:14.802
Chassis: R5-05

Christian Klien
Position: 12th
Best time: 1:15.011
Chassis: R5-01

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